Vegan Candy Bar Stuffed Dates

Vegan candy bar stuffed dates are simple, healthy, decadent bites, inspired by 4 classic candy bars! Perfect for halloween or when you just want a sweet bite.

Question: are you big on halloween?

I feel like people that enjoy halloween like, REALLY enjoy it, and if you don’t, it’s just meh. I am NOT a fan of all the spooky, scary stuff (you couldn’t pay me to watch a horror movie). Costumes are fun, but the one thing I am a HUGE fan of come halloween time…candy. Specifically, chocolate.

I still cherish sweet memories of running around my neighborhood with my parents and friends, swinging my pillowcase to collect as much candy as I could before trick or treat was gone for another year. My favorites were always Reese’s cups, hershey chocolate bars, snickers, you know, anything of the chocolate variety.

So today, I took inspiration from some of my past halloween faves as well as some that my adult palate would love, and we’re making vegan candy bar stuffed dates! Basically, stuffing a sweet, caramel-y date with some nut butter and various toppings to get the flavors of classic candy bars we love, minus the animal ingredients and processed, refined sugars.

May or may not have my own trick or treat, in my house only, with a whole plate of these. Happy halloween to me.

Ingredients for vegan candy bar stuffed dates

• Medjool dates: gooey, sweet dates are the base for all the different flavors. You’ll slice them to remove the pit, but being careful not to cut all the way through so you can add fillings.
• Nut butters: always check to make sure you’re buying unsweetened, oil-free nut butters! A lot of store-bought nut butters have added junk that you don’t need. The only ingredients should be nuts and maybe a bit of salt. Between these four flavors, you’ll use cashew, almond, and peanut butter.
• Coconut flakes: unsweetened coconut flakes give great flavor and chewy texture to the almond joy and mounds dates.
• Almonds: almonds give great crunch and healthy fats to the almond joy dates.
• Peanuts: peanuts give crunch to the snickers dates.
• Vegan chocolate chips: you’ll use chocolate chips in all four versions. I like the Lily’s stevia-sweetened chips, but use any vegan chocolate chips you like.

Alright first up is the peanut butter cup version! This one is simple. Fill with peanut butter, sprinkle with a few chocolate chips, and that’s it. Super quick and easy, with all the dreamy, chocolate + PB everybody loves.

Next is mounds, and I know I know, this is a candy bar I feel like every child just passed off to their coconut-loving mom (or maybe that was just me?). But now, I absolutely love it. So, a mounds version had to happen. This one is just as easy as the peanut butter cup. Fill with some cashew butter, sprinkle with coconut flakes + chocolate. Soooo so good.

On to the almond joy! And yes, ditto to what I said above about the mounds bar. My mom probably had way more almond joys than even she could want at halloween time, between me and my two brothers. But now I absolutely love this combination. For this one we’ll fill with almond butter, stuff a whole almond inside (for DIVINE crunch), more coconut flakes, and chocolate chips.

Finally, the snickers. I feel like this candy bar was so popular, like if you didn’t like peanut butter cups best, snickers were probably your jam. To make this version, fill with peanut butter, some peanuts, and a sprinkle of chocolate chips.

Tips for making vegan candy bar stuffed dates

• Carefully slice the dates to remove the pits. If your dates still have the pits in them, carefully slice the date length-wise and remove the pit, but make making sure not to cut all the way through the date so that you can add the fillings.
• Make all the flavors, or just your favorite. Feel free to pick and choose which flavor variations you like most.
• Store in the fridge or freezer. These are amazing fresh, but if you have leftovers, store in the fridge or freezer. I personally think they’re’ best straight out of the fridge, but you do you (really there’s no way to make these NOT good).

Vegan candy bar stuffed dates are rich, sweet, full of amazing textures and all the classic candy bar flavors! My favorite was the peanut butter cup version, but almond joy was VERY close behind, and Joe loved the snickers. Which would you choose?

Xo,

Sara